Installation of Our New Window – Before and After

Beach Bungalow Time

Since we moved into our place over a year ago, I’ve been wanting to add a window in the living room because it was like a cave in there!

I knew it was going to be a decent sized project, but I also knew it would be worth it because it would make living day to day life so much better. It’s amazing what some real sunlight does for the soul!

So here’s what our place looked like before we moved in (there is a lot of light coming in from the bedroom, but we usually have our curtains almost all the way drawn in there, so in real life we can’t or don’t rely on our bedroom window as a source of light to our living room:

There was not one window in the living room (well, there is a tiny bathroom window for some reason)

But even that lame bathroom window is sometimes covered up because that window leads to our next-door neighbor’s backyard and they will hang up blankets to dry for days at a time right over that little tiny window that gave us our only natural living room light.

Here’s my update of our place all moved in, but still no window:

So away we went!

First we moved the furniture out of the way and put up some 99 cent plastic table cloths to keep any dust from filling the room once we started destroying the wall. It worked pretty well. Not 100%, but good enough.

And here’s a view of our tent from the inside:

Next we simply hammered a couple holes in the area we wanted the window to find the exact location of the studs. We have a stud finder, but it is at Kyle’s parents house. However, I also have a pretty good ear at hearing the difference in sound when knocking on the wall. It sounds a lot more hollow where there is no stud, and not hollow where there is a stud. I hit my first hole right next to the stud (yay me!) and then I made a hole directly on the other side of the stud.

Then we drew some lines on the wall where we wanted the window to go exactly, and we only hammered out the drywall the exact size of the window.

Then Kyle drilled some nails through the stucco right in the corners of where the window was so we knew where to break away the stucco on the outside. We didn’t want to break anything that we didn’t have to, or make a bigger hole than we should.

So then we knew exactly where the window was going to go.

Then we started hammering out the stucco:

Then we had to cut the stucco wiring:

Then Kyle cut the stud out. This part is tricky because you need to cut out the height of the window, plus 3.5″ for the 4×4 that would frame the top of the window, plus 1.5″ for the 2×4 that would frame the bottom.

Then Kyle cut the framing wood and built it:

Then we installed the window which was pretty easy, and from here on out I forgot to take more pictures of the process, which seems to happen on almost every project we do, lol!

By the time the window was installed, it was dark, so we called it a day. The next day Kyle stucco’d the outside of the house while I drywalled the inside. Keep in mind that finishing off the outside of your house is extremely important. You have to do it right so that no water can leak in. Seek professional help for this.

While we were waiting for the joint compound to dry, I decided I didn’t want to move all the furniture back in place and then move it all out of the way again to work on it some more in a few days. That’s when I had this urge to get rid of part or all of our couch. We settled on just getting rid of the chase, so I put it up on craigslist for someone to come get it for free, and away it went that night:

I waited 2 days, then put another coat of joint compound on, then another 2 days and put another coat. Then I was finally satisfied, so I cleaned it all up to make it nice and smooth with a damp paper towel and painted the area so it was all finished on the inside.

After the paint was dry, we put up some nice looking inexpensive blinds, here’s what it looks like with the blinds down:

A month after we installed the window, Kyle painted the stucco (which was just a couple days ago). We tried to get a paint match from the stucco we hammered off, and while it didn’t turn out exact, it turned out close enough for this house:

Here’s what the outside of our house looked like before we moved in:

Now:

Before we moved in:

Now:

And the inside, before we moved in:

Now:

Before we moved in:

Now:

No, I didn’t take the time to clean up for these pics, so bear with the mess. Kyle does run a Porsche parts business right out of our living room, lol.

So what do you guys think? I am so so happy with the new light, and the fresh breeze that comes through our new window. And it turned out really nice. It looks like it’s been there all along

Next I will show you how we got rid of the ugly broken heater in our living room. An eyesore, and taking up wall space!

Also, the next thing I want to do is add another electrical outlet by my desk, so there might come a post about that down the road as well

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Oooo doesn’t that bit of light make SUCH a difference? And I so admire you doing this yourself – I think I’d be a bit too scared of the house falling down haha xKarenAnita recently posted..Construction Update: We Have Walls!

Yeah, it is a bit tricky, but we have experience with this, so we knew what we were doing. We only removed one stud and you just have to make sure you build proper support (consult a professional if necessary). Thanks for stopping by Karen